Density

Topic: Density

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to compare the density of water and oil with an activity using water and oil.

Materials

• Water
• Oil
• Container(s) large enough to hold the water and oil
• Spoon or other tool for transferring the water and oil
• Paper towels or a dry cloth for cleaning up

Warm-up

• Ask the students if they have ever seen water and oil together before. Ask them to describe what they saw.
• Ask the students if they know what density is. Ask them to give an example of something that has a high density and something that has a low density.

Direct Instruction

• Explain to the students that density is a measure of how dense something is, or how much it weighs per unit of volume.
• Show the students the water and oil and ask them to predict if the water will float on top of the oil or if the oil will float on top of the water.
• Pour a small amount of the water into a separate container and add a small amount of the oil. Ask the students to watch what happens as you mix the water and oil.
• Discuss with the students what they saw happen when you mixed the water and oil. Ask them if they think the water and oil will still float on top of each other or if they think they will mix together.
• Pour the rest of the water and oil into the same container and mix them together. Ask the students to guess what the final mixture will look like.
• Allow the students to observe the final mixture and discuss their observations with the rest of the class.

Guided Practice

• Divide the students into small groups and provide each group with a container of water and a container of oil.
• Ask the students to carefully mix the water and oil together and then observe what happens to the mixture.
• Have the students discuss their observations with the rest of the class.

Independent Practice

• Provide each student with a small container of water and a small container of oil.
• Ask the students to carefully mix the water and oil together and then observe what happens to the mixture.
• Have the students record their observations and create a comparison chart to show the difference in density between water and oil.

Closure

• Review the importance of knowing the density of different materials in everyday life.
• Ask the students to share any observations or findings they recorded during the activity.

Assessment

• Observe the students during the independent practice and provide feedback on their results.
• Collect and evaluate the students' class results for accuracy and completeness.